Day of the Entrance Exams
Ryan had gotten himself out of bed and grabbed the outfit he was going to wear today as well as a red helmet. After getting dressed, heading towards his sister Kasumi's room and opening the door, going down a set of stairs leading from the second floor and getting something to eat, he was soon outside where he tossed a spare helmet to Kasumi and revved the engine of a blue motorcycle with yellow streaks that was in the driveway of the house he and his sister lived in.
'Well, I have everything I need for the entrance exams being held at the Kaiba Dome today. Now I just need to make sure I get there on time.' He thought to himself, before driving through the streets of Domino City towards his destination.
Along the way, a blonde-haired man was walking further up the road and didn't see him coming.
"Heads up!" Ryan exclaimed, causing the man to turn and face him before he skidded to a halt.
"That was close." He sighed in relief, having barely avoided the figure.
"You two are duelists, aren't you?" The man asked, not seeming concerned that two fifteen year olds had almost collided with him.
"You could say that. Hey, I think I've seen you from somewhere before." Ryan recalled.
"But, I'm not sure where." He added.
"Our motivation is to try out for Duel Academy." Kasumi retorted.
"You don't say." He opened a deck case that was on his belt with a gentle smile.
"Hey, aren't you-"
"This is for you." The figure handed him a card. Ryan was a bit skeptical at this point, but took the card nonetheless.
"Thank you." Ryan bowed in respect.
"Good luck, you two." The stranger said, before walking away.
"I won't disappoint you." He called out to the stranger, who looked back and smiled a little then gave him a thumbs up.
"And sorry for almost running you down." Kasumi added, even though her brother had already apologized.
'Now, there's somewhere I need to be.' Ryan thought to himself before then starting the motorcycle up again.
Meanwhile at the Kaiba Dome, registration for the entrance exams was coming to a end.
"Well ladies, that's the end of it." A man wearing a business suit told a pair of women. "Mark all late arrivals as no shows."
They were about to pack everything up when the three heard something coming from down the road.
It wasn't your standard motorcycle, the vehicle Ryan was driving is called a Duel Runner. Kaiba Corp created them to take dueling to the next level.
He stopped in front of the table.
Ryan got off the Duel Runner and removed the red helmet.
He walked up to the registration table.
"Would we be too late to sign up for the exams?" Ryan asked the three.
"No, actually. Truth be told, we were about to pack up before your arrival." One of the women said, handing him the papers he needed to fill out.
Ryan took the clipboard before signing himself and Kasumi in while she bent over, resting her hands on her knees. Ryan and Kasumi walked inside the Kaiba Dome.
"Once again, all academy applicants who passed their entrance exams, please head to registration. For those who have failed, better luck next year." the announcer said as the entrance exam duels rage on. Watching on was a feminine looking man with blond hair in a blond ponytail, wearing purple lipstick, long blue blazer.
The last duel was taking place with the proctor having Gear Golem the Moving Fortress and Big Shield Gardna both in defense mode. The student had his Vorse Raider in Attack Mode. As for life points, the applicant was in the lead so far and it's his turn.
Applicant: 3200 LP.
Proctor: 1900 LP.
Gear Golem the Moving Fortress: 2200 DEF. Level 4.
Big Shield Gardna: 2600 DEF. Level 4
Vorse Raider: 1900 ATK. Level 4
"Alright, new guy. multiple choice!" The proctor said to a student who had black hair and a white school uniform. "You got two monsters staring you down; do you A: throw in the towel, B: beg for mercy, or C: cry home to mama?"
"I'll go with D: none of the above." he replied as he activated his trap card, Ring of Destruction.
"A trap?" the proctor asked.
"Exactly. You see, with Ring of Destruction I can destroy any monster that is in Attack Mode and then we both take damage equal to that monster's attack points." The applicant explained as he equipped his Ring of Destruction to the neck of his own monster, Vorse Raider, and destroyed it.
The applicant had enough life points to survive but the proctor lost the rest of his.
Applicant: 1300 LP.
Proctor: 0 LP.
"Clever move, applicant. Welcome to the academy." The proctor said.
"Thank you, wise proctor." The applicant said with a bow.
High up in the stands are three duelists wearing Obelisk Blue blazers, the highest rank for students at Duel academy. There was a student with blue hair and glasses on the right, a student with brown hair on the left, while middle had large spiky hair.
"Wow, that guy was pretty good. Don't you think, Chazz?" The Obelisk student with glasses said.
"Guess the rumors about him being some kind of 'wiz kid' were true, huh Chazz?" the other student said.
"He's a punk." Chazz scoffed with a snort while being in the middle of his crew. "We went to duel prep school for the past three years, we're ready for the academy. These kids don't know what they're getting into, but they'll learn, they hard way, the Chazz Princeton way." he finished with a arrogant smirk.
Across the stadium stood Ryan and a small boy with glasses and blue hair, who watched the duel with him by the railing.
"I'm impressed." Ryan admitted to himself. "That guy really knew what he was doing."
"Yeah, his name is Bastion Misawa. He scored highest out of all other applicants." The boy explained.
"Really, I would like to see what he's capable of in a duel." Ryan declared, interested by Bastion's abilities.
"I managed to breeze through mine." He stated.
"I barely passed. My name's Syrus by the way, nice to meet you." Syrus said as he looked down.
"I'm Kasumi." Kasumi said.
"And I'm Ryan." Ryan added.
"I kind of got this thing where I get test anxiety, I don't know how I won my match."
"You still won, though. Kas and I will too, once we duel." Ryan commented.
"Wait, you two haven't dueled yet?" Syrus asked.
"We just got here, why?" He questioned back.
"Then you two might have a problem, I think this one was supposed to be the last one." Syrus said, shocking Ryan and almost causing him to fall down.
"I blame you." She said, glaring at her older brother.
In the meantime with the proctors, they were all discussing about the current applicants that have all won their duels and will attend the academy.
"Looks like we got a pretty good crop this year." One proctor said.
"Yes, indeed." Another proctor replied. The feminine looking man was closing his book and was ready to leave until another proctor came to him.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but two more applicants have arrived to take their entrance duels, Mr. Crowler." The proctor in charge of signing in outside said as he approached Crowler.
"Did you just call me Mister?" Crowler asked in a offended tone.
"Oh, sorry, I'm new here Mrs.-" Proctor tried to reply before Crowler continued.
"I have a PHD in Dueling, I have earned the title Dr., thank you." Crowler said as his eye twitched. "Now tell the two applicants, they'll have to come back next year." The other proctors disagree with his decision and spoke up.
"Come on, Dr. Crowler, we still have time for them to duel." One proctor said.
"Yes, let's give these Duelists a chance." Another said.
"They were just a bit late that's all." Another finished.
"LATE IS RUDE!" Crowler replied in frustration, startling his colleagues. "I have no time for slackers." He then heard a ring from his cellphone. "Hello? And who might I ask is this?"
"It's Sheppard." the person on the phone said on the other end.
"Ah, Chancellor Sheppard." Crowler replied slightly nervous, not wanting to sound rude towards his boss.
"Just calling to make sure everything is going smoothly, Crowler. Wouldn't want a repeat of what happened last year." Sheppard said, who is currently at Duel Academy, shocking Crowler. "When you cut a third of our applicants for some ridiculous reason. What was it? Calling you Mr. or Mr.s. Whatever. Just make sure that everyone gets a fair shot."
"Absolutely." Crowler replied hanging up his phone. "Furry chinned wind-bag." Crowler sneered. 'Doesn't he realize that there are enough talent-less flunkies at this academy. But he's the boss, if he wants to give these two a duel, fine.' he thought.
"Pardon me, gentleman, I'll be right back." Crowler said as he was about leave before the proctors stopped him.
"But who will be applicants dueling proctors and what exams decks shall we use for them?" The Proctor asked as he held up a box of Duel Monster decks. Crowler scoffed.
"Oh, leave that to me." Crowler said as he began leaving, confusing the other proctors. He was going to deal with them personally.
Back with Ryan and Syrus, Bastion had just sat back down on his seat after his entrance duel as Ryan approached him.
"Nice job, Bastion." He said.
"Thank you." Bastion replied politely.
"From what I've seen, you're probably the second best duelist." Ryan said.
"Hey!" Kasumi protested.
"Okay, third best."
"Kasumi Yuki, report to exam field 4." A voice over the intercom said.
"Did you put my name first on the sign in sheet?" Kasumi asked her brother.
"I might've." He said with a smirk on his face.
Kasumi sighed.
"Good luck, sis."
"Hey wait." Bastion said, getting his attention. "If I'm third best, then whose first and second?"
"Oh that would be me and Kasumi, now if you don't mind." He replied, heading down to the arena.
"He's so sure of himself." Syrus said. "I wonder if he and Kasumi are really that good."
"He's going to need to be, look who they're dueling." Bastion said. They look down and they see his opponent is Dr. Crowler himself. Unlike most Duelists, who use a Duel Disk, Crowler uses a Duel Vest where it attaches to your chest rather than your arm.
"All right, test time!" Dr. Crowler said as he had his Duel Vest on.
"So, your name?" He asked.
"Kasumi Yuki." Kasumi replied.
"Well, Kasumi Yuki, I am Doctor Vellian Crowler, Department Chair and Techniques Professor here at Duel Academy."
Kasumi raised an eyebrow at that but decided against responding.
"Are you ready?" Crowler asked.
Kasumi nodded, activating her duel disk.
"Let's do this." She said.
"Duel!" They both called out as they drew their opening hands.
Crowler: 4000
Kasumi: 4000
"I'll start, if you don't mind." Kasumi said, drawing her sixth card. "And I'm summoning Jain, Lightsworn Paladin in Attack Mode."
She placed the card on her disk and a silver-haired warrior in silver and gold armor appeared on the field, holding her sword as if ready to attack (A: 1800/D: 1200).
"Next, I'll place one card face down and end my turn, which means I have to send the top two cards of my deck to the Graveyard because of Jain's effect." Kasumi added, placing one card into a card slot and then placing the top two cards of her deck to her Graveyard.
"Very well, it's my turn now." Crowler said, drawing a card. "And I think I will start out with something simple. I play the Spell Card, Confiscation." He held out the card before inserting it into a card slot. "This allows me to look at your cards and discard one of them as long as I pay 1000 Life Points."
Crowler: 3000
Kasumi: 4000
Kasumi, wondering what Crowler was playing at, watched as her four remaining cards—Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Charge of the Light Brigade, Glorious Illusion and Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon—appeared in front of Crowler.
"I'll go with the most powerful monster in your hand. Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon to the Grave." Crowler said.
'Good thing I have other monsters I could use, though I wonder why he didn't go with Glorious Illusion. Guess he doesn't see it as a threat. Big mistake, in my opinion.' Kasumi thought as she placed the card in her Graveyard slot.
"Next, I will place two cards face down." Crowler added, slipping two cards into two of his card slots before adding, "And now I activate Heavy Storm to destroy all Spell and Trap Cards on the field."
Kasumi shielded her face as the wind picked up and her face down, as well as both of Crowler's, shattered into pixels.
"Why'd you do that?" She wondered aloud.
"You'll find out soon enough, young scholar." Crowler said with a smug smirk.
. . .
"Heavy Storm? I don't think that's a test deck." Bastion said.
"Why do you say that?" Syrus asked.
"Because it's a rare card that can change the tide of a battle without serious cost."
"Uh oh, that's not good." Syrus said worriedly. "But she doesn't look worried."
. . .
"Crowler's using his own deck? This duel is over." Taiyou commented.
"Yeah, no one can compete against an expert's deck." Raizou agreed.
"I think I'm going to enjoy Crowler wiping the floor with this kid and her brother." Chazz said with a smirk. Even if she is kinda cute...wait, where'd that come from? He thought. "I wish they treated all other second-rate duelists that apply at this academy the same way."
. . .
"What an elitist snob." Alexis muttered. "Bullying some kid with his very best cards."
"You're too soft, Alexis." Zane said calmly. "I just hope we get to see that legendary rare card Crowler has stashed away in that deck of his."
. . .
"Ready for your next lesson?" Crowler asked.
"Bring it on." Kasumi said.
Dark clouds began to appear on Crowler's side of the field and two worm-like tokens appeared. "Very well, then. To continue, the two Trap Cards that were sent to the Graveyard were two Statue of the Wicked cards. Do you know what that means?" he asked.
"I get the feeling you're about to tell me what it means," Kasumi said dryly.
"Yes, I am. When they're sent to the Graveyard, I get two Wicked Tokens. I now sacrifice my two Wicked Tokens to summon Ancient Gear Golem!"
The statue-like tokens vanished to be replaced by a robotic giant with working gears for joints and a single glowing red eye (A: 3000/D: 3000).
. . .
"That's it. That's his legendary card." Alexis gasped.
"Now it looks like we're about to find out what makes it so legendary." Zane said.
. . .
"Ancient Gear Golem, attack her Paladin, Mechanized Melee." Crowler ordered and Kasumi shielded her face as Crowler's Golem threw a punch that caused Jain to shatter and took out some of Kasumi's Life Points.
Crowler: 3000
Kasumi: 2800
Kasumi lowered her duel disk.
'Well, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get rid of that Golem, or I'm done.' she thought.
"Your turn, Ms. Yuki." Crowler said.
Kasumi drew a card. Okay, since Ancient Gear Golem can deal piercing damage, if he attacks Ryko, I'll lose. And yet I'll be able to activate Ryko's effect before he's destroyed but after damage calculation. But I'll need to make sure I still have Life Points if I wanna stand a chance at winning.
"I'm going to start by activating the Spell Card, Dian Keto the Cure Master to increase my Life Points by 1000." She said, placing the card on her disk and she was surrounded by a blue light as her Life Points increased.
Crowler: 3000
Kasumi: 3800
"Then I'll place a face down and Set one monster in facedown Defense Mode and end my turn," she finished.
'What is she planning?' Crowler wondered as he drew a card. "Go, Ancient Gear Golem, attack her face down monster, Mechanized Melee," he ordered. "And since the monster's in Defense Mode, you're inflicted with piercing damage."
'Good thing I increased my Life Points then.' Kasumi thought, shielding herself as Golem's fist slammed into her face down card and flipping it up.
Crowler: 3000
Kasumi: 1000
"Ready to give up? I'll definitely understand. I mean, the Academy's not for everyone," Crowler said with a sneer.
"I don't give up. Besides, I knew you were going to do that." Kasumi said, lowering her duel disk and Crowler frowned. "And I also know about your Golem's ability. I can't activate any Spell or Trap Cards until after the Damage Step but I can activate monster effects and that's what I'm going to do. When Ryko is flipped up, his Special Ability activates after damage calculation and before he's destroyed, allowing me to target one card on the field and destroy it and I choose your Ancient Gear Golem!"
Crowler as well as the majority of the audience gasped as a light surrounded Crowler's Golem and he exploded followed soon after by Ryko.
. . .
"Pure luck!" Chazz exclaimed, surprised to find the pretty amateur destroy Crowler's best and most powerful monster.
"Maybe this girl is better than we think she is," Taiyou suggested tentatively.
"Shut up. She got lucky." Chazz growled.
. . .
"Impressive move. She sacrificed one of her monsters to take out Crowler's best monster," Alexis mused.
"But she has to discard three cards from her deck now. If she is not careful, she'll deck out, but she doesn't seem in danger of that right now." Zane said.
Alexis nodded, knowing that was one of the drawbacks of a Lightsworn deck.
. . .
"Clever." Bastion said with a nod. "She knew that if Crowler's Golem had attacked her facedown monster, it would have ended the duel so she prepared herself and then sacrificed one of her monsters to take out Crowler's Golem."
"Dr. Crowler doesn't look too happy." Syrus said.
"He did just lose his best monster. I'm not surprised." Bastion said.
. . .
"Of course, now I have to discard the top three cards of my deck," Kasumi said before proceeding to do just that.
Crowler coughed.
'Impressive but she's still not passing.' He thought.
"I'll place one card face down and end my turn." He said.
"My draw and I activate Card of Sanctity so that we both draw until we have six cards in our hands," Kasumi said, playing the Spell before drawing four more cards while Crowler drew five.
"Then I activate my face down, Glorious Illusion." She added, revealing her Trap Card depicting a female Lightsworn monster surrounded by light. "This card allows me to Special Summon a Lightsworn monster from my Graveyard in Attack Mode. I choose Jain, Lightsworn Paladin." A moment later, a cylindrical cone of light appeared and the silver-haired warrior reappeared on the field (A: 1800/D: 1200).
"But I'm not done. Now, I sacrifice Jain in order to summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel," Kasumi added and Jain vanished to be replaced by a beautiful blue-haired woman with large white wings and white gloves carrying a staff with a sun topping it (A: 2300/D: 200).
"And because I sacrificed the monster I summoned with Glorious Illusion, that card is destroyed as well." Kasumi added.
'Now I won't have to send cards to my Graveyard during my End Phase, not that in matters since this duel's over.' She thought.
She smiled as she added, "Looks like this duel's over."
"It is not." Crowler said with a scowl.
"Oh it is. I activate Celestia's Special Ability. Since I summoned her by tributing a Lightsworn Monster, I'm allowed to send the top four cards of my deck to my Graveyard, target up to two cards you control and destroy them. Since you only have one, that'll have to do." She placed four cards into her Graveyard slot before Celestia pointed her staff toward Crowler's face down card and it shattered into a dozen pixels.
"Doesn't matter, you slacker. Your monster doesn't have enough Attack Points to take me out. Such an amateurish mistake," Crowler sneered.
"By herself, she can't take you out, Dr. Crowler," Kasumi agreed.
'He did not just call me a slacker! We were only a few minutes late!' She thought angrily before taking a deep breath to calm herself. The last thing she needed was to lose her temper; while her gift seemed only to work with FIRE-attribute monsters, that didn't mean she couldn't accidentally make a monster with a different attribute's attack a bit hotter than it was supposed to be.
"But when I activate Rush Recklessly, she will." She added after she calmed down. She placed the card on her duel disk and Celestia was surrounded by a faint silvery glow as her Attack Points increased (A: 2300-3000/D: 200).
"Now go, Celestia, attack Crowler directly with Celestial Strike." Kasumi ordered and Crowler shouted as a beam of light shot from Celestia's staff and slammed into him, sending him flying to the ground.
Crowler: 0
Kasumi: 1000
'I don't understand! She's a slacker! And she beat me!' Crowler thought, shocked.
"I passed, right?" Kasumi asked as Crowler got to his feet.
'I won so I better have.' She thought.
The teacher just glared at her before stalking off.
"I'll take that as a yes."
. . .
Kasumi returned to the stands after her duel.
"Good job sis." Ryan congratulated Kasumi on her victory.
"Thanks bro." She replied. "You should get ready for your duel."
"Right." He agreed, slipping a deck into his duel disk.
"Ryan Yuki, exam field four." The announcer said.
"See you guys later." Ryan walked down to the arena.
"So, son, your name?" He asked."I'm Ryan Yuki, sir." He bowed in respect.
"Well, uh Ryan Yuki. As I said before my name is Dr. Vellian Crowler and I am the headmaster of dueling techniques at the Academy." Crowler re-introduced himself with a sarcastic tone.
"Let me ask you something, how would someone acquire the duel disk on your chest?" Ryan questioned him.
"Oh hard work and extremely high marks." Crowler answered.
'But you have to get into the academy first and I have no intention of letting that happen.' He thought with some confidence, certain that he had a easy victory over him.
"Ready if you are."
"Duel!" Both declared after drawing five cards.
"I'll begin this duel." Ryan drew his sixth card then looked at his hand before placing a monster card on his duel disk. "I summon Elemental Hero Stratos in attack mode. Now I activate his effect. The turn it's summoned I can either add another Elemental Hero to my hand or destroy spell and trap cards equal to the number of HERO monsters I control except Stratos." He summoned a man with blue armor and two turbines on his back.
"I'm also placing one card face down to end my turn. It's your move."
'Since it's my own deck, I'll be in control the entire time.' Crowler thought. 'This brat is not coming to the Academy.'
"I will be going first this time." Crowler said, drawing his sixth card. "And I will start out by playing the Field Spell, Geartown." He slipped the card into the Field Spell slot and the arena changed. Now they were in a city of spinning gears and gear-shaped buildings.
"And, because of this Field Spell, I can summon an Ancient Gear monster with one less sacrifice. Since my Ancient Gear Beast only needs one sacrifice, I can summon him directly to the field without one." Crowler added, placing the card on his duel disk. A robotic canine with gears for joints, long sharp front teeth and yellow eyes appeared on the field (A: 2000/D: 2000).
"And then I'll end my turn with that." Crowler said.
"I draw and I play H-Heated Heart. This gives Stratos 500 attack points."
Stratos: 2300 ATK.
"Destroy Ancient Gear Beast." Stratos flew forward and brought a fist back before punching Crowler's monster.
Crowler: 3700
"I'll place a face down and end."
"It's my turn." Crowler drew a card. "And I play Ancient Gear Castle. This gives all Ancient Gear monsters 300 attack points. Now I summon Ancient Gear Knight in attack mode."
Ancient Gear Knight: 2100 ATK. Level 4.
"I'll play a face down, Bottomless Trap Hole. This will banish your monster." Ryan said. Crowler grumbled in frustration.
"I end my turn."
"Then, it's back to me." Ryan drew a card.
"It's been fun, but this duel has drawn to a close. I play the spell Polymerization fusing Burstinatrix and King of the Swamp in my hand to fusion summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman."
Elemental Hero Flame Wingman: 2100 ATK. Level 6.
"Attack Crowler directly." He ordered.
Dr. Crowler: 0 LP.
The duel was over and he was the winner, much to the shock of the other students.
"Impossible." Chazz said with widened eyes, shocked from he saw and refused to believe it. "No way Crowler could lose to some flunkies."
"Those two have a future here, wow." Alexis said with a smile.